As part of the Sperry Road extension project, El Dorado Street will be closed between French Camp Road and McKinley Avenue at times starting Thursday.The road will be closed from 6:30 a.m. to 4...

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South El Dorado closure

As part of the Sperry Road extension project, El Dorado Street will be closed between French Camp Road and McKinley Avenue at times starting Thursday.

The road will be closed from 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday and Friday. It will be open on the weekend then close again for the same time Dec. 4-5.

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STOCKTON - The beginning of a new construction project on Interstate 5 will do more than just build a new interchange at French Camp Road.

It is the last of a string of projects that will complete a long sought-after goal of creating a major connecting road between I-5 and Highway 99 through south Stockton.

"This is the last piece of the puzzle," said Gordon MacKay, interim Public Works Department director for Stockton. It started at the eastern end with the project to rebuild the Highway 99 interchange at Arch-Airport Road.

That project was completed in 2005. Now under way is an estimated $50 million project to build a mile-long elevated roadway to connect Sperry Road to the French Camp Road interchange. This piece could be finished by the end of 2013.

MacKay and other transportation and local officials turned out earlier this week to a groundbreaking ceremony by French Camp Road for the final project to rebuild the I-5 interchange, widening French Camp Road and building new merging lanes on the freeway between French Camp Road and Downing Avenue.

Estimated to cost about $60 million, this part of the project is expected to be completed in December 2014.

When everything is done, it's expected that drivers who don't use the new connection will notice less congestion on the Crosstown Freeway, and there will be fewer big rigs using Martin Luther King Boulevard. It also will improve access for ambulances taking patients to San Joaquin General Hospital.

The project has drawn state, federal and local dollars. Officials said the projects are the product of cooperation from local agencies and officials, private partnerships, the California Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration. But the connecting road hasn't been at the top of local officials' lists of important projects for years because of stalled traffic.

"What this project is all about is the economic development," said Andrew Chesley, executive director of the San Joaquin Council of Governments.

Particularly in south Stockton, said City Councilman Dale Fritchen. "This is going to be a huge boon for south Stockton."

The economic impact has already started, on this and other projects developed over years and now being built, Stockton City Councilwoman Susan Eggman said.

"They've been in the pipeline for about a decade and now coming to fruition," she said. "This is huge."

Benefits of the connecting road will go beyond improving access to Stockton Metropolitan Airport and commercial traffic, said Mike Selling, San Joaquin County Public Works deputy director. It will help access to the Port of Stockton and improve transportation for those traveling in or through the county, he said.